Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I just posted a HERE'S TO YOU on Friday (a day late). Today, I'm doing something unprecedented: HERE'S TO YOU ON TUESDAY. Ladies and gentleman, this has NEVER been done. However, you guys wrote amazing blog posts on Monday, inspiring me to go YouTube crazy, and this is the result. I'm ready days in advance, and it's a good thing: Thanksgiving is on Thursday, totally interrupting my HERE'S TO YOU post. So, I am outsmarting the holiday and posting early. Hehehehe. Those turkeys aren't getting anything over on me this year! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

If
you don't know what this HERE'S TO YOU stuff is about, let me explain.
This used to be a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. When I
read your blogs or you say something in the comments that sparks my
imagination (or I hear something and I think of you), chances are good I
will click over to YouTube to find footage for you. In the old days you
wouldn't have to reach back in your memory bank farther than one week.
Now... all bets are off. It could be several weeks ago.

The best (or worst)
part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage
for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head
at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all
is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com
and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of
footage off of YouTube and connected it to you. And then I will tell
you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the
crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol.
Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you
enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also,
this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take
the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad
footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I
dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you
haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something
that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your
personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble
watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side),
click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to
youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the
video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring
it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Before we jump into the HERE'S TO YOU post for today, I need to take a moment and update you on the vote for Battle of the Bands. If you didn't vote in this one, but want to vote in the next one, on December 1 we go another round. I'm planning on Christmas music for December, and I have seen other participants say the same. So, Battle of the Bands might help you get in the spirit of the holiday.

Now on to the results. The song was When It Comes To You. It was written by Mark Knopfler and performed by Dire Straits (but never released as a single), so the one and only time this song charted was when John Anderson covered it. As some of you indicated in the comments, Mark Knopfler played the guitar in the John Anderson version, suggesting to me that he wholeheartedly supported John Anderson taking this song and making it a hit. I am happy to report that this was a pretty close battle for a long time, but then Dire Straits pulled ahead, winning it. The final tally, without my vote:

John Anderson: 10

Dire Straits: 16

As for me, I already gave my vote away when I posted the battle (if you were paying attention). I love love love the John Anderson version on this song. I'd just moved to Savannah, Georgia, and my radio dial kept slipping to the country station. Honestly, it just didn't seem right to live in the south and not soak up the place, and that included the music. Unlike NYC, my previous residence, Savannah was laid-back and oozed that slow, southern style. Let's just say I adapted fairly quickly. So, I am driving down the road and When It Comes To You comes on the radio. Holy cow! If this was country, I was in. All in. I made it a point to go out and buy that CASSETTE TAPE immediately. The CD still hadn't taken root in my house. ha!

So, my vote goes to John Anderson, but it doesn't change a thang. Dire Straits still wins it. Ah well, such is life.

And now for the "real story:" HERE'S TO YOU. Ta da. I wasn't ready yesterday, but caught up enough today to roll it out. A day late, but just as entertaining.

If
you don't know what this HERE'S TO YOU stuff is about, let me explain.
This used to be a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. When I
read your blogs or you say something in the comments that sparks my
imagination (or I hear something and I think of you), chances are good I
will click over to YouTube to find footage for you. In the old days you
wouldn't have to reach back in your memory bank farther than one week.
Now... all bets are off. It could be several weeks ago.

The best (or worst)
part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage
for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head
at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all
is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com
and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of
footage off of YouTube and connected it to you. And then I will tell
you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the
crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol.
Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you
enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also,
this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take
the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad
footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I
dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you
haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something
that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your
personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble
watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side),
click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to
youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the
video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring
it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Before we jump into the action, I want to take a moment and apologize for being so darn absent from your blogs. I know that I am not keeping up with blogging very well. (Yes, that means everything else in my life is going like gangbusters, and I'm having trouble balancing it all out.) My plan is to visit all of you ASAP!

Some of you know that I spend a bit more time than I should on YouTube. In the course of my meanderings, I discovered several songs recently that were covers (and I didn't know it). Imagine my surprise and delight! It looked a little bit like this:

Christmas 2010

That was also your gentle reminder to get out and buy your Christmas gifts. Dec. 25 will be here before you know it!

Now, on to the battle. This is the last battle of non-Christmas music. The next two battles will be a Christmas concoction, so bring the eggnog for those, preferably spiked!

The song for this battle is When It Comes To You. It is one of the aforementioned songs that I had NO IDEA was a cover. I first heard it in the early 90s. Stephen T. McCarthy described a scene of himself first hearing the song If Ever I Would Leave You on his last battle in the comments. (Even though the voting is closed, it is worth your time to read that bit. Fabulous!) He heard it on the radio (as I heard this one) and sat there hoping and praying the DJ would indicate who and what this song was. That is precisely how I felt about this song. Who is singing this song? You must tell me!!! I didn't race immediately to the store to buy it, but buy it I did!!!

Recently, I found out that this song was a COVER. I had no idea. Hence, the surprised look (as seen above). This song was written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. I think it must have been a B-side on their On Every Street album, as it didn't ever get radio play.

Let's listen as I heard them, shall we?

First up, John Anderson:

Now, Dire Straits:

For more Battle of the Bands fun, check out the other BOTB bloggers to vote on their battles:

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Yes, this is a HERE'S TO YOU post, but first I have to let you know how Battle of the Bands turned out. The Corrs took a strong lead in the beginning and never lost it. Surprise! The Corrs won it with 14 votes. I am not sure I was clear about my feelings on the Tim McGraw version. I said it wasn't country, or not that country. What I meant was that it wasn't country enough for country radio. So, to a country music listener... not country. To others, it probably sounded country, but not overly country. Did that make more sense? Anyway, many of you liked his version and 8 of you voted for it. Ryan Adams took a beating in this battle... and several of you called him wimpy. Only 2 of you voted for him, but at least he wasn't completely frozen out.

As for me, I don't care that much for The Corrs version. It's okay. I really like the Tim McGraw and Ryan Adams versions of this song... and would be hard-pressed to choose. Fortunately, I don't have to... because voting for either one wouldn't change anything.

So, let's get on with all of that stuff for YOU!

If
you don't know what this HERE'S TO YOU stuff is about, let me explain.
This used to be a weekly event landing typically on Thursdays. When I
read your blogs or you say something in the comments that sparks my
imagination (or I hear something and I think of you), chances are good I
will click over to YouTube to find footage for you. In the old days you
wouldn't have to reach back in your memory bank farther than one week.
Now... all bets are off. It could be several weeks ago.

The best (or worst)
part is that I am not going to explain why I chose "whatever" footage
for each of you. If, you watch your footage and are scratching your head
at the end, well that means I didn't do a very good job. However, all
is not lost. You can email me at rarichards68@gmail.com
and ask me what I was thinking when I chose that particular piece of
footage off of YouTube and connected it to you. And then I will tell
you. Then I will start sending up prayers that I haven't offended the
crap out of whoever is on the receiving end of that email....lol.
Because, honestly, I will tell you right now... I admire all of you
enormously so I really hope that doesn't happen.

Also,
this is not an exclusive venture by any means. I hope that you will take
the time to watch ALL of the footage because I don't pick bad
footage:-) I also hope that you might check out the blog of the person I
dedicated the footage to because they are pretty darn awesome. If you
haven't figured this out yet... I pick the footage based on something
that you've written or something that I've gleaned from your
personality. Think on that for a while... If you are having trouble
watching the entire video (meaning it is being cut off on one side),
click on it a couple of times and it will take you straight over to
youtube. If you click on the four squares at the bottom corner of the
video, it will enlarge it to fill your screen. The escape key will bring
it back to normal size. The back arrow will bring you back to my page.

Now, let's get this PARTY STARTED!!!!

This one is for everyone:

This one is also for everyone:

This one is for all of you who called Ryan Adams wimpy (you know who you are!):

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Progress Update: I finished the last of the revisions on my WiP. If you are interested in CPing this (looking primarily for plot stuff that doesn't work as well as it could/should), let me know. You can email me at rarichards68 at gmail dot com.

The next books is beginning to take up a lot of Brain Space. That tells me two things. One: I think I am mostly done with the first one. Two: I need to sit down and put fingers to keyboard and start hammering out an outline. Or even just do some story idea writing to flesh it out in my mind.

I find that the experience of writing this novel, reading books about writing novels, reading books with an eye always geared to how someone writes (what I like, what I don't, sentence structure, plot structure) has changed my writing in countless ways for the better. I wish I still had that VERY FIRST ROUGH version in a file... man, it stunk. BUT, it also shows how far I've come. (Hint: Miles and miles and miles.)

Big thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for starting this group. More thanks to all of the bloggers who support this endeavor by helping carry the load of getting around to so many blogs. If you want to join this excellent group, we post once a month on the first Wednesday of the month.

Interested in CPing? How do you know when you are "done" with your novel? What has writing taught you?

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Welcome to Battle of the Bands! We've got another good one for you today. I'm Robin. And to get the vote, you gotta play the game! If this sounds to you like a typical Steve Harvey opening from Family Feud, you would be correct! Score!

I think I've mentioned, on numerous occasions, that my migraines have been better and worse. In the year 2005 they were particularly worse. I couldn't even commit to a half hour TV program. Pretty much all I watched during that time was CMT, because they still played music videos. I could click that on and off, and watch just as much TV as I could tolerate. And then back to bed. Really terrible year. I also listened to a lot of music during that time on the stereo. I'd discovered Ryan Adams (not to be mistaken for Bryan Adams) on a soundtrack CD. I loved that song so much, I actively sought out his other music.

So, anyway, I am watching CMT and a new Tim McGraw video came on. The song was When The Stars Go Blue. I loved it. At the end, it shows stuff like who wrote it. Writer: Ryan Adams. I was like, "Heck, yeah." That SOUNDS like something Ryan Adams would write. That is the story of how I found this song.

I thought I would pit Tim McGraw against Ryan Adams singing his own song. Then I discovered The Corrs did a cover, too. What to do???? I hate 3-way battles as a general rule, but I cannot decide!

So, I am going to post for you the songs as I found them. Tim McGraw. Ryan Adams. The Corrs. You will hear them in the same order I did, albeit back to back.

First up is Tim McGraw with a not-so country song (which I think explains why it didn't do all that well in country radio):

Next is Ryan Adams with the original:

Lastly, The Corrs with their interpretation:

I really hope I don't end up being the tie-breaking vote, because I am undecided on my own vote!!! So, please, pretty please, cast a vote!!!!!!!!!!!

For more Battle of the Bands fun, check out the other BOTB bloggers to vote on their battles:

Add A Video Or Image To Your Comment!

You can now add YouTube videos in your comments by copy/pasting the link. AND/OR you can insert an image by surrounding the code with this: [im]code[/im]. In the case of images, make sure that your code is short and simple ending with something like .jpg. If you want to use a pic from someplace like Google Images, click on the image, then click on View Image. That is the code you want!